Tight Knit Family
by ProtoChan
Summary: Robin gets a holiday gift for Alice and Killian, one that helps the two become closer than ever before.


"I'm excited, Papa."

"I can tell."

Killian turned to look fully at his daughter. Alice was bouncing off the balls of her feet in place, a wide smile and her eyes laser-focused on the door.

Robin had asked to come over today to give the two of them their holiday presents.

She said she would be over at three and it was right now exactly one minute past three.

Needless to say, Alice couldn't wait much longer.

Alice was always lacking somewhat in patience, and that's exactly what Killian loved most and missed most about her.

But he wouldn't have to miss her anymore, not if he could help it.

Killian sighed.

It was finally over.

All manner of curses, even that of the poisoned hearts, were finally lifted from all who dwelled n Hyperion Heights, and at long, long last, Killian and Alice were reunited.

The memory of it all had Killian unconsciously place his hand over Alice's shoulder. Alice, upon feeling it, lowered her head to rest on his hand, all the while still bouncing with glee as they waited for their house guest.

They stayed like that, even as they heard a knock at the door of their houseboat.

"It's opened!" the two of them chorused.

Robin emerged through the door.

"Hi guys!" she greeted. She dropped her stuff, came over, and gave Alice a kiss and Killian a hug.

Killian loved this. It was just the three of them, free, together, and happy.

"Present time!" Alice shouted.

Well…present time for he and Alice, at least. Despite their best efforts to order a present not even two days after the curse had broken, Amazon had stated that they still had a couple of days to go before their gifts for Robin were here.

Robin sighed, somewhat dramatically. "Such an eager beaver. What am I going to do with you?"

"Hopefully find me under a bit of mistletoe soon enough," Alice slurred without missing a beat. Robin gawked.

"Such a dirty mouth!"

"She's learned from the best," Killian chimed in.

Robin started laughing and turned around to return to her things. A moment later, she returned.

In Robin's hand was a singular present, wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper.

"Who's that present for?" Killian asked.

"And where the other?" Alice added.

"It's for both of you, actually," Robin said.

"Someone's getting a little cheap," Alice teased. Robin merely stuck her tongue out.

"And someone's getting a little greedy," Killian scolded lightly in his daughter's direction. Alice only gave his a smirk that mirrored the one he often sported.

Robin's grin doubled in size, something Killian immediately noticed. She then extended her arm with the package out towards them. Killian took it and he couldn't help but smile as Alice placed her fingers on the edge of the paper, ready at a moment's notice to break into it. Killian himself edged his fingers along the surface to make a guess out of what it was, his detective's instincts going at it. The package was soft and a bit malleable, but left him with little else to work with as far as his guesses went.

"Well, open it!" she demanded, a mix of enthusiasm and impatience that leaned more towards the former.

Alice needed no more pushing and began to tear at the wrapping paper. Killian hardly got a rip or two in edgewise through no lack of trying. When the wrapping paper was at last disposed of, Killian and Alice were left with a bundle of woolen cloth in between them.

Together, they began to unbundle their package, all the while sporting matching confused looks. Robin, Killian could see out of the corner of his eye, had taken to covering her mouth with her hand. His focus was taken away though when he felt something - a long, thin stretch of wool. It felt like a sleeve. Killian began to pull at it, and as he looked at Alice, he noticed that she was doing the same thing on her end. Finally, as both sleeves were pulled away, the gift finally revealed itself to be a sweater.

That led to a rather large problem.

Neither he nor Alice were the same sweater size, and Robin was clever enough to know that.

Then, Killian began to notice something: The sleeves, the collar - they were uneven. The one he was holding was slanted more upward with a higher sleeve and the one Alice held was more downward in the collar and lower in the sleeve.

It was also quite large looking around the waist.

Killian bit his lip. Robin seemed to be proud of it. Had she made it herself? He didn't know what to do in this case. Of course, he'd hate to hurt Robin's feelings, but this gift seemed to be borderline unusable.

He looked over at Alice. She, while still looking confused, seemed to be putting her mind to work, connecting all manner of dots that he couldn't make sense of for the life of him.

After a full minute of internal guessing as to what his daughter was thinking, Alice's face lit up.

She grabbed the sweater out of Killian's complete grasp and began to put it on.

Or rather, half of it on.

Alice filled the smaller portion of the sweater, but didn't attempt anything with the bigger portion. She then gestured for Killian to do the same on his side.

Killian, for a moment, was confused, but suddenly, a small and meaningless memory of a BuzzFeed article he once read on a whim hit him and everything clicked together.

Given their height differences, it took some maneuvering, - Killian had made a mental note to insist putting the sweater on first next time they wore it - but eventually, he was in his half as well.

And the sweater fit perfectly.

Robin, still with her hand on her mouth, now had a notable set of tears welling up in her eyes.

"After everything, I know you two never want to lose each other again," she explained. "I thought it was cute."

Killian smiled, a fatherly smile.

"It's perfect," he insisted, sincerely. He then felt a tug from inside the sweater, only to see that Alice was bringing him in for a hug from within their confines.

"I love it," Alice said to Robin. Not even needing to consult with each other to know what to do next, Killian and Robin both opened up their outside arms and invited Robin to join in their hug. As she joined them, Killian closed his eyes, fending off some tears of his own. Of all the hugs he's shared with them, this might be his new favorite.

Suddenly, Killian heard a small click, followed by a bright light that he could from behind his closed eyes.

Killian opened his eyes and looked down.

It just occurred to him: In all the sentiment of receiving the sweater, he had not bothered to look at the patterns.

Or the buttons.

"It lights up!" Alice yelled. "Oh we are going to crush it at the ugly sweater contest at Roni's!"

Robin gasped in mock scandalization. "Ugly? I custom ordered that for you!"

"It's a green sweater with a reindeer playing in the snow!"

"Rudolph!" Robin pointed out. "And that shade of green is your favorite color!"

"Doesn't mean it belongs together! Why's Rudolph playing in the forest? He lives in the North Pole!"

His two girls continued to bicker, but Killian had not a reason in the world to lose his holiday cheer.

If this was only the beginning to their holidays together, then Killian knew that misery and pain would no longer be the words to describe his life.

Just like their new sweater, there was all the light in the world to look forward to now.


End file.
